Happy Birthday, SMS! 12/03/2011 12:54 PM
When Neil Papworth used a computer keyboard to type the message “Merry Christmas” and then sent it from a computer to his boss’s Orbitel 901 handset, texting as we know it was born.
That was 19 years ago.
Since then, texting has grown in leaps and bounds: 1.56 trillion texts were sent in the United States alone in 2010. More than 52,000 texts are sent every second. What started out as plain, text-only messages has evolved into a way to quickly and easily share information, pictures, and more.
Now, while people still use the service to send holiday well wishes, they also use it for so much more.
Individuals use texting to buy goods, earn discounts, and cast votes. They can get alerted when their bank funds are running low, enter to win a Sweepstakes, or donate money after a natural disaster – all from their mobile phone.
2WayTxt lets businesses tap into this powerful communication tool, and gives them a way to reach out to their customers in a medium they know and love.
Contact us today, and start texting tomorrow!
Is President Obama an SMS dream? 01/24/2009 01:27 PM
We haven’t heard yet from the Guinness Book of World Records but according to several reporters, including Colin Gibbs for RCR Wireless News, President Obama’s inauguration was likely to break text-messaging records.
The whole multiple-day celebration breathed a rockstar element that no American has witnessed for a US president. Everyone, including bona fide rock stars like Bono, Jay-Z, Sheryl Crow, and Bruce Springsteen, among a sea of others, flocked to Washington to take part in the historic event. With DC officially infiltrated and the attendee estimation around two million, it was difficult to get past security or onto any line that had a Metro stop close to the Mall, let alone see him swearing in.
VeriSign Inc, an Internet infrastructure service provider, said they expected 1.4 billion messages nationwide on inauguration day. You know when even Anderson Cooper can’t get past the triple line of law enforcement to get to CNN, he’s definitely texting Campbell.
The Post texted attendees with tips on traffic jams, street closures and event times while the Presidential Inaugural Committee offered a texting service to receive weather updates and other pertinent information about the celebration. All wireless carriers were said to have beefed up their networks to handle the influx of texting. While there were some texting concepts planned out (i.e. – the Post and the Inaugural Committee), there should have been more ideas implemented to support this rising popular habit of cell phone users.
President Obama has consistently used SMS to get his information directly to the public and has made known that he will continue using that tactic after he takes the oath. This just proves that the mass public is open to receiving information this way and are slowly jumping on the bandwagon for sending, as well.
Jay Emmet, general manager of OpenMarket Inc, said it well, “Think of SMS as the next generation of the Emergency Broadcasting System,” he said. “Mobile is becoming another necessary channel of any integrated marketing campaign and a critical piece of a holistic communications strategy.”
Whatever the reason people were texting on Inauguration Day – be it their excitement for the new President, trying to find their friend on the Mall, or wanting their T9 to recognize the word, “inauguration” – it’s proof that it won’t be much longer before SMS becomes completely mainstream.
Txt to Go Green 12/10/2008 02:20 PM
How many scraps of paper do you generate in one day? Between writing down phone numbers, putting meeting reminder post-it notes on your computer, jotting down grocery lists… it all adds up. In a trashcan. Then in a landfill.
Paper — in all its many shapes and sizes — amounts to almost half of what we end up sending to landfills. However, if Americans recycled just one-tenth of their paper, it would save 25 million trees a year.
What if there was a way to cut down on actual paper? Forget the recycling part (OK, not really!). What if we didn’t even jot notes down at all? What if we tapped them into our cell phones instead?
SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application in the world with 2.4 billion active users. The obvious next step is to cut out paper and focus on technology to help the environment.
Since 2007, I began each year with the same resolution – to be paper free. Hopefully this year I can make it happen with some of the following tips:
Not only will it organize my life but I’m doing my part to help.